FOR MOST, NBA LIFE BEGINS TO END AT AGE 32

It's safe to assume none of Michael Jordan's adoring fans bought him an NBA encyclopedia for his 32nd birthday last month.

The tome paints a depressing picture for 32-year-olds in cold, black-and-white agate.

For a surprising collection of stars, 32 marked the beginning of the end:

- John Havlicek averaged 27.5 points per game as a 31-year-old before slipping nearly four points the next season; his average slid steadily until he retired.

-Oscar Robertson averaged 25.3 points per game and shot .511 from the field as a 31-year-old, then fell off to 19.4 and .496 a year later.

-Jerry West's scoring average dropped each of the four years after his 32nd birthday.

-Pete Maravich's scoring average slid from 22.6 points as a 31-year-old to under 14 points a year later.

But here's perhaps the most alarming stat buried deep in the hernia-inducing encyclopedia: Only three men have ever led the NBA in scoring after their 30th birthdays.

The oldest was West, who turned 32 shortly after he scored 31.2 points per game for the 1969-70 Los Angeles Lakers. George Gervin led the league in 1982, the spring he turned 30, and Jordan led it (for a record-tying seventh straight season) after he turned 30 in the middle of the 1992-93 season.

Wilt Chamberlain, like Jordan, won seven straight scoring crowns, but his last came when he was 29.

All of which raises this question: While it's obvious Jordan will be one of the best players in the game, will he dominate again?

Of course, Jordan has shown a knack for accomplishing the impossible. But precious few superstars actually improve after they reach 32 or 33; most struggle to maintain the levels they achieved in their late 20s.

"There's a saying in the league that NBA players drop off the shelf," said Dick Versace, an NBA TV-radio analyst and former NBA coach. "For the general NBA player-and you're talking about a guy who takes care of himself all year-33 usually is the dropoff."

Versace was quick to point out that he doesn't count Jordan as typical.

Still, the odds are long. Centers and players whose games aren't built on leaping seem to be immune, but players whose forte is the jump shot or the explosive drive to the bucket generally begin to go backward, and fast, around 32.

Look hard enough and you'll find a few notable exceptions, beginning with Elgin Baylor. The Laker great's career seemed on the wane when he averaged only 16.6 points at 32. But the next year he shot up to 26.6 and regained potency as a rebounder. He scored more than 20 points per game four times after turning 32.

Another exception is Larry Bird, who at 32 missed most of a season with injury, then returned to average 24.3 points per game in 1989-90.

Versace likes Jordan's chances of joining that distinguished list. "To best determine that, you would have to try to look at the player who best emulates Jordan's game. And that player is Elgin Baylor," he said. "He was a flyer, a leaper, a contorter.

"If Baylor could get better at 32, why can't Michael Jordan?"

This much is in Jordan's favor: His commitment to conditioning is renowned. While he still has to unlearn some of the muscle movements he picked up during his failed stab at baseball, his legs ought to be as explosive as ever.

And it's wise to remember that Havlicek and the players of his day didn't have conditioning coaches and strictly governed diets. Nor did they have the massive financial incentive to drag another year or two out of their exhausted bodies. Recently, a dozen NBA conditioning coaches published "Condition the NBA Way," a guidebook to the fitness programs of the pros.

"If they're willing to pay the price, we can help them stretch their careers for a few more years," said Miami Heat conditioning coach Bill Foran, who coordinated the book. "How much longer, we don't know."